Sleeping Beauty
by QuinnFacrayy
Summary: Shortly after meeting her roommate Quinn and moving into the apartment, Mercedes begins to get deathly ill, but always feels better after being sung to sleep by Quinn. When a horrendous incident happens in her apartment, the new life she started may end shorter than expected, and Mercedes learns that not everyone is who they appear to be.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This concept came to me in a nightmare (it actually scared the shit out of me tbh) and I had to write it out! **

"You know if you keep taking pictures on the job Shelby will fire your ass"

Mercedes looked up from the table she was wiping down to look at her best friend/co-worker Tina. Mercedes teasingly rolled her eyes and continued to wipe down the coffee table. "Please, I'm the reason this place is in business"

Tina playfully pinched her side and said, "So you're the Queen of open mic night! You don't have to rub it in". She helped Mercedes push in the chairs and the two walked back to the storage room. Mercedes looked to the clock, it was nearly the end of her shift but she didn't want to go home to an empty house on a Friday night.

"Hey T, you want to come over tonight, Quinn is out of town so you don't have to worry about her"

Tina slightly sneered at Quinn's name. From all their past interactions she knew Quinn didn't like her and the feeling was definitely mutual. "Nah, I think after this place I'm going to head home and get a head start on my homework, but you can come to the movies with Mike and I tomorrow night if you want"

Mercedes groaned at her friend, "I hate being the third wheel to you two. It's like I'm Shawn and you guys are Cory and Topanga, except I can't even get a date. I was riding past the middle school the other day and these thirteen year olds were making out like they were grown! How pathetic is it that thirteen year olds have more experience than me, a twenty year old!"

Tina had to fight back her chuckle because she knew her friend was sensitive when it came to the opposite sex. "Cedes, you would have more experience if you actually put yourself out there. All you do is work, take a day off, go on campus and socialize"

"It's easier said than done, and besides, I only go on campus to take pictures, I would feel weird talking to a college guy when I'm not even in college"

Tina shook her head; Mercedes could be so frustrating sometimes, "Fine, you continue with your exclusive relationship with Nikon, just make sure I get the first wedding invitation"

Mercedes put on her beanie and started to put on her jacket; "You'll get the first invite to our baby shower too"

Tina laughed and zipped up her sweatshirt. The two clocked out and walked to the café's parking lot. "So why is Quinn gone anyway? Did she get tired of being a bitch here and needed a change of venue?"

"No, she's visiting her relatives in California"

"California huh? Didn't think someone so cold could come from such a hot place"

They reached Mercedes bike and Mercedes took off her lock, "Tina, she's not that bad once you get to know her. She's actually really sweet. Whenever I get sick, she sings me to sleep"

Tina fished her keys out of her purse, "That's weird"

"No, it's sweet! She calls me her sleeping beauty" Mercedes defended.

"Whatever you say, do you want a ride to your place?"

"I'm good thanks, I love taking the woods trail to my place, so many photographic opportunities"

"Mercedes, please tell me you don't actually take pictures in the woods, at night"

"Sometimes" she shrugged.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Tina exclaimed.

"It never lasts more than five minutes and I don't do it when it's really late! Calm down"

"You need to be more safe, the freakiest shit always happens in the small towns"

Mercedes kicked her bike stand back and started to peddle off. She waved back to Tina and yelled, "Bye mom!"

Tina sighed and shook her head, the girl was afraid to talk to guys but she wasn't afraid to be alone in the woods at night, God help her.

Mercedes biked through the trail, loving how the moonlight illuminated the way for her. She was itching to take out her camera to get a photo of the beautiful moon. Mercedes stopped her bike and reached into her canvas backpack to take out her Nikon d500, she wouldn't dwell on it; this would only take two minutes tops. She set up her camera and looked up to take the picture. As she was zooming in she heard a stick snap, coming from what sounded like behind her. Mercedes felt a shiver go down her spine and immediately tensed. Her conversation with Tina flashed through her mind and she gulped at the thought of being the latest segment on the local news. She quickly tried to put her camera into her backpack and she accidently took a picture in the process. She peddled hard and didn't look back until she was out of the woods and outside her apartment building. Her heart was beating rapidly and wiped the sweat from her brow. She didn't see anything suspicious looking towards the woods and that was probably because there wasn't anything. Mercedes went inside the building and laughed to herself for thinking some serial killer was lurking in the woods, when it was most likely a fox. She was in the woods after all.

Mercedes walked up the stairs to the second floor and reached her door. She began to look for her key, when she heard her very loud neighbors to the left of her doing what they always did at night, and during the day, and sometimes in the morning. When the moans became louder Mercedes sighed dramatically and put her key in the lock. The door slightly pushed open, before she even turned her key. Mercedes brows furrowed, "That's weird", she pushed the door open wider and peeked her head in. She gasped at what she saw. Her and Quinn's once orderly and tidy apartment was now trashed; their small kitchen table was turned over, various knick-knacks were scattered all over the place, their couch and chairs were kicked over, and their DVD's were thrown all over near their entertainment set. Walking and inspecting around the room, Mercedes quickly noticed that nothing was actually stolen, just thrown around. She grabbed her phone and dialed 911 as she made her way to her room. She opened her bedroom door and as expected, her things were thrown around, just not as bad. She went into Quinn's room next and her room looked like it got it the worst. Someone completely ravaged her room to the point where it was unrecognizable. All of her books were ripped apart and tossed around, her lamp was shattered, her clothes were scattered and ripped, the closet sliding door was demolished, and her bed was stripped down and it looked like someone had taken a knife to it and sliced open the mattress at varying places. Walking out, Mercedes flicked on the hallway light when she felt something wet on her fingertips; it was blood. She saw a blood trail on the wall and floor leading to the bathroom. Her gut feeling was screaming at her to turn back and call for help, but her footsteps had a mind of their own as they continued to lead her to the bathroom door. With a shaking hand, Mercedes swallowed the lump in her throat and pushed open the blood splattered bathroom door, only to see the tattered and destroyed body of an unknown individual.

**A/N: What did you think? **


	2. Chapter 2

All of the gory horror movies she watched still didn't prepare her for the scene in front of her. The body, if you could still call it that, was practically ripped in half; the once white wall was now covered in the loud red blood. Mercedes could see the bones through the limbs, and the person's neck was slashed to the brink, and his lifeless eyes were staring right at her. The vomit was coming up in her throat, and Mercedes heaved as she ran from the bathroom and into the kitchen. She hurled up the meal she had on her lunch break into the kitchen trash, she could still smell the metallic stench of blood and tattered flesh. Once she was sure her purging spell was over Mercedes made the frantic phone call to 911 and waited outside.

Mercedes trembled harshly as she waited for the police to arrive and couldn't get the image of that body out of her head, the feelings of fright, denial, shock, and despair all crossed paths in her mind. Mercedes was so busy trying to block the scene from her mind she didn't notice the Golden Retriever sitting before her. "Oh!" She wiped her eyes and looked around for the assumed owner. Dogs were not allowed in the building and she didn't see a collar on the dog, so for all she knew the dog could be rabid. The dog only stared at her and she stared back, afraid to make a move that may somehow intimidate it. The dog cocked its head as if it were trying to figure out what had Mercedes so shaken up, it stood on all fours and walked up to her.

The dog started to whine and gave her kisses; Mercedes patted its head awkwardly and chuckled at her new friend. For some reason this dog was bringing her all of the peacefulness she needed right now, it was like it could sense that inner turmoil she was having and tried to make it better. The sirens of the police cars neared and the dog suddenly ran away and into the woods.

Seven police cars pulled up and an ambulance pulled in soon after behind. A police officer who looked no older than her approached her and asked, "Are you the woman who called in the 187?"

"The what?"

"Oh sorry Ma'am, are you the woman who called in the murder?"

"Yeah, I came home from work to find my apartment ransacked and that's when I found the, the-" The bile started to rise and Mercedes quickly covered her mouth and turned away from the officer. The officer looked at her with wide eyes and awkwardly stood still as Mercedes recoiled. Mercedes recoiled the last bit of bile and turned back to him embarrassed. She cleared her throat and continued, "Yeah, uh, that's when I found the body in my bathroom"

Mercedes saw that other residents of the apartment being escorted out of the building by the various officers, and other officers started to put up the yellow police tape. A couple of crime scene investigation vans pulled up and the workers, accompanied with their crime scene supplies made their way inside the building.

"Do you know have any idea who the person is?"

"Officer I could barely recognize that it was a person in general, I'm positive it's a guy and that's about it"

The officer wrote something down on his small notepad and looked back up at her, "Do you have any enemies?"

Mercedes shook her head, "No I recently moved here about five months ago and I only talk to a couple of people daily you know? My roommate is out of town visiting family, but she's too sweet to have any enemies"

"I see, what's your roommate's name?"

"Quinn Fabray"

"Ok and your name is Mercedes Jones correct?"

"Yeah"

Mercedes could tell this officer was still of the rookie status judging from his consistent neck scratching and throat clearing. Just as he was about to ask her another question, two officers came out of the building and vomited into the bushes.

"Is it that bad?" the officer muttered to himself.

"Yeah it's horrible"

He looked at her again and smiled faintly, "Miss Jones, do you have somewhere to stay?"

"I think I have enough money to stay in a motel, how long will it take before I can live in my apartment again, not that I really want to…"

"I don't know the exact details behind that, but I can ask"

"Thanks officer…"

"Hudson, Finn Hudson ma'am"

"Thanks officer Hudson but you don't have to keep calling me ma'am, Mercedes is fine"

"Will do Mercedes, let's get you checked out, NOT like checking you out sexually, the standard routine check out"

Mercedes, now embarrassed for him, just said, "Yeah, I know"

Finn led Mercedes to the ambulance where she was thoroughly checked out, and a couple of detectives asked her more questions. Mercedes noticed her neighbors giving her odd and curious glances, and did her best to ignore them all. A couple of news vans pulled in and tried to question Mercedes, but Finn, who had been by her side, told them that the witness had no comments on the matter. Mercedes felt like she had been sitting in the ambulance truck forever when she saw the EMT'S bringing out the body in a black body bag. Finn escorted her to his cop car and tried his best to distract her as the EMT'S came past with the body.

"Miss Jones, I was told that if you tell me what items you need from your house, like clothes and stuff, I could go get them for you, but until the scene is completely recorded and secured, you cannot go back into it"

Mercedes nodded and told him it didn't matter what clothes he got and that she needed her backpack. While Finn was gone, Mercedes was approached by her two noisy and nosy neighbors, Kurt and Blaine.

Kurt spoke up first, "Mercedes what the hell is going on? They won't tell us anything!"

Mercedes didn't feel like telling the story for the umpteenth time so she kept it short, "Someone broke into my apartment and I found a dead guy in my bathroom"

They both gasped and Blaine took Mercedes' hands, "That's horrible, do you have a place to stay until they're done with your place?"

"I'm going to a motel"

"Nonsense! You can stay with us free of charge, and I'm sure you don't want to be alone at a time like this" Kurt said.

"Yeah, we have two bedrooms but we obviously only use one" Blaine countered.

And it's obviously the room closest to mine…, Mercedes thought.

"I don't want to cause you guys any trouble"

"Oh it's no trouble at all, besides we've been wanting to get to know you better since you moved in" Kurt cupped his hands together and asked, "So? What do you say?"

Mercedes honestly didn't want to stay with them, but she couldn't afford to stay in a motel for more than a couple of weeks, and they were nice enough to ask her so she couldn't say no.

"I would like that very much, thanks you guys, I appreciate everything"

Kurt and Blaine smiled and Kurt went on about finally having a girl to talk to, Finn walked out with her backpack, and one of her bag.

"Mercedes are these two bothering you?"

Kurt scoffed at Finn and Blaine just smiled understandingly. Mercedes quickly said, "No, the farthest from that actually. They are my neighbors next door and they invited me to come and live with them until this is all straightened out. Are you ok Finn?"

Mercedes noticed how red he was. Finn cleared his throat and handed her the bag. "I picked up all the undergarments I could find, and yeah…"

Mercedes started to blush as well, and a smiling Blaine told her he and Kurt would be waiting with the crowd.

"Thanks Finn, I totally forgot about the underwear"

Finn looked to the ground and muttered "no problem". They stood there awkwardly not saying anything when the Golden Retriever from earlier, suddenly appeared at Mercedes' side. Mercedes smiled at her friend and bent down to pet the dog's head.

"Hey you"

Finn was about the pet the dog too, but the dog growled at him and began to lick Mercedes' hand.

"Don't think your buddy likes me"

"He came to me after I made the phone call to you guys, I think he's a stray"

Mercedes continued to pet the dog as Finn spoke, "Just in case you have any questions or anything, here's my card"

Finn handed Mercedes his card and the dog took it from her hand and ran off back into the woods. Mercedes looked at her hand then at the woods and began to laugh. Finn fished around for another card and handed it to her, "Lets try this again, here's my card, call me if you need anything"

Mercedes thanked him and walked over to Kurt and Blaine.

* * *

Sam watched her walk away from the officer and shifted back into his natural self. He knew he was being petty with the whole card-stealing thing but he could sense that officer's intentions with her. A special thing about his kind was that he could literally sniff out a person's internal intentions as well as their emotions. When she first came through the woods he followed behind her discretely. He could sense her joy while she took the photos of the moon, but his wrong step on that branch scared the hell out of her and she ran off. He truly felt bad for scaring her like that and when she came out of her apartment, the dread and horror she felt immediately transferred to him. Giving her kisses would hopefully make her happy, because he definitely was.

"I made the breaking news!'

Sam heard his cousin Puck coming up and gave him a disapproving look. "You were not supposed to kill anybody"

"Oops, I guess I couldn't help myself "

"You could at least try and sound remorseful for putting us a step backward. You probably scarred the girl for the rest of her life, and Lucy is sure to stay away longer, now that her friend is dead"

"Why can't we just sniff out the bitch's scent, find her, and tear her apart like I did him?"

"If it were that easy cousin we wouldn't be standing here right now. Don't underestimate her, or her powers"

Puck rolled his eyes and looked on to the scene, he set his eyes on Mercedes, "She looks good, I never would've thought she was one of her victims just by looking at her"

"Yeah, she's definitely a special one"

Puck smirked, "To who?"

Sam ignored him and continued to stare at Mercedes, there was something unique about her than he couldn't place his finger on. He didn't smell anything supernatural on her, but no normal and regular human could withstand the evil Lucy gave out, let alone live with her for five months. What was this Mercedes exactly?

* * *

Once everyone was allowed to go back into the building, Mercedes was introduced into her temporary new home. Their place was very modern and up to date with all the latest home trends, and Mercedes was sort of afraid to touch anything in fear of breaking something that probably cost more than her life. Kurt and Blaine were in bed in less than an hour but Mercedes remained wide-awake. She wished she had work the next day so she could keep her mind occupied, maybe she would have to play the third wheel to Tina and Mike after all. Mercedes got out of bed and walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water. She went back into her room and opened the window to let in some much needed fresh night air. As soon as she let up the window, a canary flew up and landed on the window ledge.

"Don't those birds sleep at night?" Mercedes thought aloud.

The bird stared up at her and she stared back down at it. She was starting to get freaked out so she shooed away the bird. The canary flew away and reappeared seconds later.

"Shoo! Go away!" Mercedes whispered harshly.

After the fifth time of trying to make that bird go away, the canary reappeared, yet this time it flew into her room and landed on the nightstand. Mercedes was sure that bird was taunting her. She grabbed her shoe and ran at it swinging her arm. The canary flew out of the room and Mercedes shut the window in haste. Mercedes climbed into bed and shut her eyes in attempt to make her fall asleep faster. The tactic was actually starting to take effect, but the sudden moans coming from the other room halted all of the progress she made.

Mercedes grasped her pillow, rolled onto her stomach, and put the pillow over her head, while babbling the mantra of "why" repeatedly.

* * *

Sam flew to the woodland ground and shifted as soon as his feet touched the ground. Puck was leaning against the tree, growing impatient with his cousin.

"Are you finished?"

"For today, yes. Tomorrow, I'll just be getting started"

**A/N: Next chapter Sam and Mercedes will properly meet, and the unknown person as well as Quinn's true identity will be revealed! **


	3. Chapter 3

_**5 months prior**_

Mercedes knocked on door 23 with a big smile on her face. She was anxious and excited to meet her new roommate Quinn and settle into her new home. A couple of week's prior, Mercedes found Quinn's ad on Craigslist looking for a young, female roommate. Quinn said the rent would be split 50/50, $250 for each month. Mercedes had been looking to settle down in a small town after the death of her mother, Victoria; the big city with all of its noise and pollution wasn't for her anymore. Mercedes emailed Quinn, and told her she was interested. The two communicated through phone and email, and Quinn even gave Mercedes a virtual tour of the apartment through webcam. Mercedes fell in love with the classic and feminine décor and sealed the deal with Quinn.

Mercedes received a hefty inheritance from her mother, but she was only allowed five grand, and would receive the additional two hundred grand when she turned twenty-five. Mercedes and her mother were never close with the rest of the family. Her grandparents on her mother's side dies before she was born and left their inheritance to Victoria causing a rift between her and her three sisters. Her father was never really involved in her life and her aunts never bothered to get to know Mercedes. After Victoria's death, and the reading of her will, Mercedes' aunts basically vowed to nab Mercedes' new inheritance. Mercedes couldn't stand to be around those women anymore and started to look for places to live outside of the city.

After sealing the deal with Quinn, Mercedes packed up her things and left without telling her aunts. Now the moving van was parked outside with her things and Mercedes waited for Quinn to open the door. Quinn appeared seconds later and immediately hugged Mercedes.

"It's about time you got here! Come in, let me show you around your new home!"

Mercedes and Quinn talked cheerfully about all of the things Lima had to offer, and Quinn informed Mercedes that the local café was in need of a waitress. After getting the physical tour, Mercedes had the moving men load her belongings into the apartment and Mercedes and Quinn spent the rest of the night getting settled. Quinn showed Mercedes around Lima the next day and brought her to the café, where Mercedes applied for the job. The owner Shelby hired Mercedes a couple of days later. It was the fourth week when Mercedes woke up with a horrible headache. Mercedes' vision was blurred by a fuse of fluorescent colors and the room spun in a blistering motion. Mercedes stumbled to the bathroom and stuck her head in the toilet. She was violently vomiting and trembling when Quinn entered the bathroom. Quinn held Mercedes' hair back and cooed her to let it all out. When Mercedes finished vomiting, Quinn took a cool rag and wiped her mouth. Mercedes felt as if she was having an out of body experience, other than the common cold, Mercedes had never been this sick before. As Quinn brought Mercedes back to her room, Mercedes started to hallucinate; she saw dark figures hovering above them, and random translucent people crying and reaching out to her. Mercedes became hysterical and begged Quinn to make it all stop. Quinn firmly laid Mercedes on her back and straddled her to keep her still.

"Hospital…," Mercedes coughed.

Quinn shook her head and said gently, "No hospital, just listen."

Quinn held Mercedes' hands above her head and sang a foreign lullaby softly in her ear until Mercedes felt herself drifting off to sleep.

Quinn made sure Mercedes was fully asleep before she climbed off her and went into her room. Why wasn't her spell fucking working? She used this spell for 500 years and now when she needed it the most it was backfiring? With the power of her witchcraft and the beauty of beautiful young girls, Quinn was able to live centuries and keep her beauty. Her spell couldn't backfire now.

Quinn opened her spell book to make sure she didn't say anything wrong, she didn't. She would let Mercedes rest up now and gain her strength back for now; she would try again in a couple of days.

Mercedes woke up the next day feeling as if nothing happened. She could taste the desiccated vomit in her throat, but other than that she was fine. She vaguely remembered the horrific hallucinations she had and Quinn singing to her. Did she take some PCP and forget? Mercedes went into the bathroom and brush her teeth. Once she rinsed her mouth out she placed her toothbrush back into the vanity and saw Quinn standing behind her through the vanity mirror when she shut it. Mercedes jumped and turned around, "You scared me!"

Quinn smiled and said, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were alright, you had me really worried last night."

Mercedes brought Quinn in for a hug and said, "Thanks for taking care of me, whatever song you sang did the trick because it put me right to sleep."

"It's a Greek lullaby my yiayiá sang to me whenever I got sick."

"Your what?"

Quinn chuckled, "My grandma."

Quinn made Mercedes some of her homemade soup and Mercedes was feeling even better by the time she went to work that night. She was telling her new friend Tina about what happened. When she finished her story Tina asked, "Are you sure Quinn didn't drug you?"

"No! Why would she drug me?"

"Because she's a freak. You've only known the girl for four weeks, she could be a serial killer for all you know."

Mercedes laughed at the thought of Quinn being a killer, which just wasn't possible.

"T, Quinn is too afraid to kill a spider, and I've only known you for two weeks, how do I know you're not the killer?"

"You would be dead already."

"Uh-huh."

"And you don't live with me. There's something off about Quinn, she is like way over protective of you like you're her daughter or some shit."

Mercedes started to clean up the dirty table and said, "She doesn't really have anyone, like me. She's like the sister I've always wanted."

Tina scoffed at her, "So I guess that makes me the dog shit you accidently stepped in."

"Tina, you know you're my girl."

"Better be," Tina muttered.

Mercedes and Tina continued on with their work until Shelby went up on the small stage and announced, "Hello lovers of lattes! Tonight is the first night of open mic hour, I have a karaoke stereo if you feel brave enough to show us all your pipes or if you're a poet, come on up and show us what you got! So who's first?"

The café was completely silent and Shelby stood on stage with an awkward smile.

Maybe Mercedes would get a raise if she stepped up and rid Shelby of this embarrassing situation.

"I'll do it."

Shelby smiled at Mercedes and waved her up on stage, "Ladies and gentlemen a round of applause for one of my lovely waitresses and brave soul Mercedes!"

A round of claps and snaps rang out from the audience as Mercedes made her way to the stage. She looked through the karaoke selection and chose her song.

As soon as the music started, she heard the hollers and cheers from the audience.

_"I've made up my mind,_  
_Don't need to think it over,_  
_If I'm wrong I am right,_  
_Don't need to look no further,_  
_This ain't lust,_  
_I know this is love but,_

_If I tell the world,_  
_I'll never say enough,_  
_Cause it was not said to you,_  
_And that's exactly what I need to do,_  
_If I'm in love with you,_

_Should I give up,_  
_Or should I just keep chasing pavements?_  
_Even if it leads nowhere,_  
_Or would it be a waste?_  
_Even If I knew my place should I leave it there?_  
_Should I give up,_  
_Or should I just keep chasing pavements?_  
_Even if it leads nowhere"_

Mercedes closed her eyes and could barely hear herself sing as the cheers and applause became louder and louder.

_"Should I give up,_  
_Or should I just keep chasing pavements?_  
_Even if it leads nowhere,_  
_Or would it be a waste?_  
_Even If I knew my place should I leave it there?_  
_Should I give up,_  
_Or should I just keep chasing pavements?_  
_Even if it leads nowhere"_

Mercedes ended her song and opened her eyes to see not only every café patron standing and cheering, but also people from the street were applauding at the café door. Mercedes smiled and thanked them and left the stage.

Shelby and Tina ran up to hug her and Shelby told her to take any dessert of her choice on the house. After Mercedes sang, other patrons came up to sing as well, and Shelby had to extend the open mic hour to two.

Mercedes returned home to see Quinn sitting on the living room couch having a heated conversation in Greek with someone on the phone. When Quinn saw Mercedes she quickly got off the phone and asked, "How was work?"

"It was great, who were you talking to?"

"It was nobody, just some boy problems. I saved you some Pastitsio."

Mercedes went into the kitchenette and saw the delicious meal on the counter. She yelled, "What would I do without you?"

Quinn smirked and muttered, "Crash and drown."

Over the next few months Mercedes fell ill again on and off. Every time she went to the doctor's they always told her she was perfectly healthy. Mercedes couldn't figure out what was going on with her but she was thankful for Quinn's lullaby, it worked every single time and Quinn started calling her sleeping beauty. Mercedes felt bad for getting sick so much, because she saw that her obscure sickness was taking a toll on Quinn's appearance. Quinn started to develop wrinkles and bags under her eyes. A couple of weeks prior to the horrible incident, Quinn told Mercedes she was going to visit her relatives in California. Mercedes was so used to having Quinn around, so when Quinn left, Mercedes felt lonely. Mercedes thought that this would be an amazing time to have a boyfriend.

* * *

_**Currently**_

Sam was waiting for Mercedes to come out the door. He knew his cousin would have the stupid smirk on his face when he found out what Sam had done, but Sam didn't care-he would rather keep an eye on Mercedes from across the narrow hall than from the woods. The room across from Mercedes' apartment had been vacant when Sam snatched it up. Now he was waiting for Mercedes to come out of her neighbor's apartment, and kept himself occupied in the meantime, by doing more research on Lucy's whereabouts. Sam knew Lucy was no doubt sucking the beauty from some poor beautiful girl somewhere else in the States, and when she came back he would be ready for her.

Sam had been tracking Lucy for a hundreds of years. His parents, Julian and Xandra, warned him of her kind when he was a child. A siren was a lethal creature, but a siren witch was twice as deadly to anyone who crossed it. A siren's alluring voice could enchant anyone straight to them and to that person's own death. Lucy's mother, Taise, was a siren and her father; Eros was a banished wizard from Sam's village. Eros vowed to get even with Julian after the ban and used his only daughter to help with the scheme.

The night of the scheme Eros unsuccessfully tried to attack Julian only to be killed in the process when Julian and Xandra shifted into lions and devoured him. After learning of Eros' death, Taise threatened the life of Sam to Xandra's face and was killed at the spot. Julian allowed Lucy to live because she was the same age as his young son, but warned her to never come back to the village. Lucy stayed away and practiced witchcraft for years. She used her new powers and charming voice to lure her female victims and steal their beauty or male victims to steal their strength.

Sam was seventeen when Lucy killed his parents. Xandra had gone to the shore to collect shells, when Lucy used to voice to lure Xandra to her into the water, slowly sucking Xandra's beauty from her. Lucy drowned Xandra and left her body for the sea creatures to eat. When Julian came to the shore looking for his wife, Lucy snuck up and performed a spell to paralyze him. She stole his strength and kept him alive through it all. When she finished she dragged his paralyzed body into the ocean and left him to drown like his wife.

Sam, as well as his cousin had been tracking Lucy ever since, but her powers gave her a one up on them. Sam tracked Lucy all over the world, and when he found out she was in Lima living with another girl, he expected the girl to be dead in less than a week. Somehow this Mercedes managed to last five months with Lucy, and Sam needed to know how.

Sam moved into the apartment a few days after Puck killed Lucy's lackey Rick. Sam was sure Lucy sent Rick to kill Mercedes and fortunately for Mercedes' sake, Rick came too early. Sam had sent Puck into Lucy and Mercedes' apartment to try and find anything that would lead them to Quinn, and Puck came face to face with a horrified Rick. Puck obviously wasn't a hater of overkill and Sam hated that Mercedes had to see his cousin's work. Just as Sam was about to close his eyes, he heard Mercedes coming out of the room. He rapidly left his own apartment just in time to see Mercedes close and lock the door.

Mercedes turned around to see a very handsome man in a black a-shirt, closing his door across from her. She never saw him before and wondered if he was visiting one of the other tenants. She spoke before she even realized what the hell she was doing, "Are you visiting someone?"

The man's crooked smile almost caused Mercedes to inwardly clutch her pearls.

He ruffled his dirty blonde hair and replied, "Actually I just moved in a couple of days ago, not too many neighborly people here. I'm Sam by the way."

Mercedes checked out his biceps, "I can be friendly…"

Sam smirked and raised an eyebrow, "What?"

Shit! Did she say that out loud? "What?"

"I didn't hear what you said," he said playfully.

"I, I said I'm sorry people aren't friendly. Oh, and my name is Mercedes, I wish I could talk longer but I was just on my way to work."

"Well then I guess you owe me a date. It's nice to meet you, _Mercy_."

Sam kissed the back of her hand and went into his apartment, unbeknownst that he almost made Mercedes go into cardiac arrest.

Mercedes backed up against her door and fanned herself, "Nice to meet you too."

**A/N: So what do you guys think of Quinn? Where do you think she is? The Samcedes interaction was short but they will get to know each other more next chapter! Thanks for reading!**

**P.S. Chasing pavements should have totally been a Mercedes' song, actually all Adele songs should be Mercedes' songs (^ｰ^)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks for reading!**

* * *

"So what you're saying is I should come over more often?"

Mercedes raised her brow at her friend.

"You think Mike would appreciate that?" Mercedes asked her trying not to laugh.

"What Mike doesn't know won't hurt him, and besides, it's strictly looking, not touching," Tina reasoned.

"Can't argue with that," Mercedes muttered under her breath as she resumed flipping through the photos on her camera.

Tina quickly left to give the couple sitting across the café their drinks and returned, but not before sneaking a blueberry muffin along the way. She took the chair next to Mercedes and began to eat her muffin as she observed her friend who was observing her camera.

"Looks like your hot new neighbor's only competition is going to be that camera," Tina joked.

Mercedes chuckled and set her camera down. Tina's humor is what she needed right now, it had been a week since that incident in her apartment and Mercedes was running on about three hours of sleep a night and was currently suffering from sexual frustration, no thanks to her new neighbor. Tina had offered Mercedes to come stay with her but Mercedes was certain Tina's roommate wouldn't be as gracious, so Mercedes declined and was still living with her lecherous neighbors.

"Sam could have a girlfriend for all I know, or a boyfriend. I only met him last week and it's not like we actually talk. He's always leaving when I get home or vice-versa."

"Are you going to at least try to talk to him because he could, you know, not have a girlfriend, or a boyfriend."

"I'm not going to go out of my way to talk to him, and I'm sure we'll have the proper time to have a decent conversation, he does live across from Kurt and Blaine's."

"Speaking of Klaine," Mercedes smiled at her friend's nickname for her neighbors, "Are they still trying to become one person from excessive fucking?"

Mercedes rubbed her temples causing Tina to laugh; obviously the answer to her question was yes.

"I've gone from disgusted, to acceptance, to interested, and now expectant."

"No way!" Tina yelled unbelievingly, "You're getting turned on by them now?!"

"Shhhh!"

Tina looked around the café; the few patrons were too busy in their own worlds to be concerned about hers. Rolling her eyes, Tina moved her chair closer to Mercedes and leaned forward.

"You're getting turned on by them now?" She whispered amused.

"I wouldn't say turned on-"

"I'll be the judge of that, go on."

Mercedes exhaled and continued, "Well, it's not like they're hard on the eyes, and when they're-you know…"

"Fucking."

"Making love, they're so passionate about it. Like it never lasts less than five minutes, two days ago they said they were going to bed at nine-they didn't go to bed until one."

"Wow…" Tina looked thoroughly impressed.

"Yeah, it's like no wonder Kurt is always so happy and Blaine is always so mellow and centered."

"Do they teach classes?"

"You would like to know," Mercedes quipped.

"Hell yeah I would, and you may want to know after you, and you will, start talking to a certain someone," Tina responded matter of fact.

"Tina I don't think we'll get farther than a handshake."

"With that attitude…," uttered Tina.

The bells from the café's front doors jingled as two new costumers walked in.

"I got this," Tina said as she rose from the table.

Mercedes nodded and reached for her camera to finish looking through her photos. She got to the photos she had taken of the moon, on that night. An eeriness passed through her body as the memories from that unforgettable night flashed through her mind. Getting the tattered body out of her mind, Mercedes put her focus back to her camera. The shots she'd gotten of the moon were decent, but she could have captured it better. Pressing the next button, she noticed this shot was blurred, all because of that squirrel, or fox. She pushed delete and went to the next one. Upon seeing the next photo, Mercedes felt breath hitch and pulse quicken. That wasn't a fox-it was a fucking wolf! A massive one at that. The flaxen toned wolf was staring straight at her through the camera, the flash highlighting its fine fur, and intense green eyes. That's weird, Mercedes thought, usually a bright flash would cause red-eye, but this wolf's green eyes didn't have a trace of red in them. Mercedes heard the bells on the front door call out but she didn't move and she didn't take her eyes off the photo. She was tranced by it-somewhat numb to know that this animal, this predator, was that close behind her, for who knows how long. But why didn't he attack her or growl at her or anything? She was literally a meal on wheels, his dinner feet from him. A rolled up napkin to the face jerked Mercedes from her thoughts. She looked at Tina who was gesturing at the new costumers and Mercedes now noticed the heavy traffic. She turned off her camera, placed it inside her apron pocket, and ran to assist the next costumers in line.

Gradually over the next passing hours, Mercedes found herself going from fearful to curios; why wasn't she attacked and why were there wolves in Lima anyway-that was very unnerving, considering she was an avid bike rider. As soon as the clock struck five, Mercedes clocked out and said her goodbyes to her co-workers. Tina had left earlier so Mercedes left the café alone. Maybe it was due to her curiosity or just by downright stupidity, but Mercedes found herself at the very place she could have been mangled to death. Slowly pedaling through the grove, she looked around her and didn't spot any gargantuan wolves anywhere. She continued on the trail and kept her senses open to any sounds or movements around her. A robin abruptly flew in front of her and landed on the tree a few feet to her right. Glancing around again, Mercedes didn't see anything suspicious and decided to get a few quick shots of the bird. She carefully approached the tree and snapped photos of the bird above her, moving back slowly to get better shots, she bumped into something solid, and it wasn't a tree. Why did she have to be so damn stupid?! Why couldn't she just be normal and go home? Because she was stupid that's why! Completely fucking stupi-

"Mercedes?"

Mercedes opened her eyes and spun around to see her shirt free neighbor standing in front of her, his sweaty body glistening.

"Sam? What are you doing here?"

Mercedes sighed at her dumb question, he was obviously running.

"Forget I asked that," she quickly added.

Sam chuckled as he ran his fingers through his damp hair, his muscles flexing in the process. Mercedes looked on, rendered speechless.

"I love running, exercising in general really."

I can tell…"Well, that's uh good, I'm glad you're finding your way in this town. But isn't the uneven turf dangerous for runners?"

"I can handle it," Sam replied while taking a step forward.

Mercedes took a step backwards and bumped back into tree.

Sam grinned down at her as he took another step forward, "Why do you keep moving away from me? Do I smell?"

"No not at all! I, um, I well-"

"I'm joking!" He blurted out and began laughing, "Your face! You should've seen it!"

Mercedes laughed awkwardly as her eyes lingered on his bare chest. She had never had a half-naked man this close to her before and she could swear that she was feeling the heat from his body advancing on hers.

"See something you like?" Sam asked her, still grinning.

Mercedes snapped out of it and felt herself blush, "It's very nice," she muttered to herself, "I should get going, I don't want to distract you from your running."

"You're not a distraction," he assured, reaching his hand out towards her.

Mercedes held her breath, not knowing what to expect, and exhaled when he brought his hand back, a leaf in his fingers.

He backed away from her and let the leaf fall to the ground, "Were you on your way home?"

Mercedes quickly cleared her throat, "Yeah, I was."

"Do you mind if I walk with you?"

"No of course not."

She went to claim her bike and Sam began walking on the other side of it.

"So why were you in the woods?" Sam inquired.

"I like to come through here sometimes and take pictures," she said, gesturing to her camera that was hanging around her neck.

"That's what you were doing," he stated more to himself than to her.

"Yeah, there was a beautiful robin, I had to stop."

"Is photography a hobby of yours or more professional?"

"It's far from professional, I love capturing beautiful things but I wouldn't want to get professional with it or anything like that. Way too much pressure."

"But if you're good and love doing it, the pressure shouldn't matter right?"

"Not necessarily. I don't want others telling me how to do something I genuinely enjoy passing the time with. I take pictures for me not for others to criticize and the things I find beautiful may be boring or hideous to others."

Sam nodded in agreement, "There are a lot of beautiful things here, some more so than others."

Mercedes glanced at him sideways and didn't say anything.

"Do you always walk through the woods alone?"

"Yeah, when I actually take this trail."

"I'm sure your boyfriend wouldn't want you doing that."

"I don't have a boyfriend so I'm in the clear."

"Really…"

"What about you? Doesn't your girlfriend like to run with you?"

"Don't have one, so I guess I'm in the clear too."

"Oh."

"You must be some sort of thrill seeker. Not many girls would be caught walking alone through the woods."

"Some of my greatest pictures have come from the woods."

"Your pictures won't exclude you from danger Mercedes."

"I know it's not like I make this a habit and what about you? You were alone also."

"No offense Mercedes but you're like three feet tall."

Mercedes scoffed bringing a smile to Sam's face.

"I'm six foot one, muscular, and quite intimidating."

Mercedes playfully rolled her eyes.

"My point is that you would be the likely victim here, you're more of a prey than predator."

"How do you know that?"

"For one, you were scared paralyzed a few minutes ago, like a doe in the headlights," Sam said lighthearted.

"Whatever."

"It's actually really cute, the way your eyes get all wide like that."

Sam could feel her nervous energy. It wasn't a fearful nervousness but more flustered like. This human obliviously wasn't used to flirting, and that relaxed him in a way-how she played hard to get and gave him short waves whenever they saw each other in the hallway, she almost acted as if she was avoiding him and Sam definitely wasn't used to that whenever it came to human women. But this human was his ticket to Lucy; Sam needed her to be comfortable with him, not nervous. When they reached the front doors of their apartment, Sam took her bike from her and lifted it over his shoulder as if was a leather jacket. He set it down when they arrived at Kurt and Blaine's door.

"Thanks."

"No problem, so you have any pla-"

The door abruptly opened, much to Mercedes' surprise and Sam's irritation. Kurt stood in the doorway, beaming at the sight in front of him.

"Well hello new neighbor," he greeted Sam, holding out his hand.

Sam shook it, "Hey."

"Mercedes I was just about to start on dinner, Sam would you like to join us?"

"I'm sure Sam has-"

"I'd love to."

"-plans. Oh? Are you sure? Kurt and I wouldn't want to impose."

Sam grinned at her, "When's food's involved it's never imposing. What are we having?" He asked Kurt.

"Lasagna and veggies!" Kurt replied excitedly.

"Let me get a change of clothes and I'll be back."

Sam left the two and entered his apartment.

"Or you could've came as you are…" Kurt said lowly.

Mercedes giggled and entered the apartment after him.

"I think our new neighbor has something for my beanie wearing roomie," Kurt wondered aloud as he walked to the small kitchen.

"Kurt.."

"Just an observation that has yet to be proven false," he said over his shoulder.

Mercedes shook her head and went into her room. She set her camera down and changed clothes. As she checked her appearance she heard Kurt open the door and Sam come in. She checked her appearance one more time before exiting her room. She saw Sam assisting Kurt in the kitchen and joined them. Kurt suggested they play twenty questions to make the time fly and the twenty questions and the twenty questions gradually turned to thirty then forty. They all learned personal and comical information about each other; from Kurt's obsession with his facial cleansing routine in the morning, to the death of Mercedes' mother, and Sam's bad history with lemon juice. They each helped set the table and took their seats with their full plates just as Blaine walked through the door. Sam rose up and went over to introduce himself and Blaine greeted him back, when they both returned to the table, Blaine gave a small knowing smile to Mercedes.

"So Sam, what do you do?" Blaine asked.

"I'm the co-owner of a small independent blog site with my cousin Puck, but I guess you could say a journalist."

"Exciting, so you like to write?"

"Yeah, writing does wonders for the soul's well-being. I'd probably go insane if I didn't get to write out my frustrations, sadness, happiness, all of my emotions really. Plus, traveling around the world to gain insightfulness isn't too bad either."

"I might be in the wrong occupation," Blaine remarked.

"Same," Mercedes and Kurt stated.

Sam chuckled behind his napkin as wiped his mouth.

"I'm sure all of your occupations are just as exciting, and traveling alone isn't always fun. My cousin does his own thing so it's mainly just me and myself. It can get very lonely," Sam said.

"Aside from work, Blaine and I are always together, traveling the world without him would be difficult, the loneliness that comes with it probably wouldn't be worth it in the end," Kurt commented.

Blaine slid his hand over to grip Kurt's in an assuring manner. The two exchanged thoughtful smiles and Mercedes knew what was going to happen next. What always happened after they looked at each other like that.

Blaine moved his chair closer to Kurt's and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. It didn't take long for their pecks to turn into something more. Mercedes took sips of her water as the two bluntly made out and stole a glance at Sam, who looked amused with the scene. As their moans became louder, Mercedes took bigger sips of her water and looked around the room. Sam continued to eat completely unfazed. When the two finally came up for air, Kurt dabbed is mouth with his napkin and cleared his throat.

"I think I'm going to call it a night, goodnight everyone."

Kurt hurried out and disappeared into his bedroom.

"Sam it was a pleasure to meet you, Mercedes, I'll see you in the morning."

Blaine shook Sam's hand again and squeezed Mercedes' shoulder before rushing off.

"Sorry about that…"

Sam kept his comfortable composure and shrugged, "You have nothing to apologize for. I imagine that when you or I find love like that we'll get caught up in the moment as well."

"Yeah…they can get caught up a lot. It makes living in the next room unbearable at times."

"Do you ever think about getting your own place?"

"I have my own place, next door actually, but I can't move back in for a while-I'm not sure if I even want to move back there."

"What do you mean? Why can't you move back into your apartment?"

"There was an unfortunate event that happened last week and until the investigators are satisfied with securing the scene, I can't move back in."

Sam looked intrigued, "Unfortunate event?"

"A guy was murdered in my apartment."

"Wow."

"Yeah it was…I'll never get that out of my mind. The nightmares stopped so that's good."

Mercedes looked down at her plate and pushed her food around with her fork.

Sam looked down guiltily, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, I'll be fine. My roommate still doesn't know. I've been trying to get in contact with her since it happened but she hasn't been answering."

"That's odd don't you think?"

"Not really, she's visiting her family and she isn't much of a phone person anyway. I guess she's busy."

"Could be."

After the two cleared the table, Sam got a phone call from his cousin and told Mercedes he had to go. Mercedes would be lying if she said she wasn't sad to see him leave so soon, she was really warming up to him and he seemed to be warming up to her as well. As she lay in her bed, earphone clad, she grabbed her camera and went straight to the wolf.

* * *

Sam tapped his foot impatiently while he waited for his cousin to arrive. He thought about his dinner with Mercedes. He genuinely enjoyed himself, even while her roommates were making out. Sam sworn he'd smelled a slight scent of her arousal during it. He'd memorize the sweet scent in his senses, with almost every encounter they had, the sweetened fragrance invaded his muzzle. Sam wondered if she tasted as good as she smelled…

His non-cannibalistic, yet lustful thoughts of the human were interrupted the second Puck flew in from outside. He shifted into himself and Sam threw his a pair of sweats. As soon as Puck had the sweats on, Sam swiftly came up to him and punched him in the face. Puck held his bloodied nose and swore loudly.

"What the hell was that for!?"

"For terrorizing the human girl with your sloppy work," Sam shot back.

Puck wiped the blood from his nose onto his arm, his nose was already healing.

"You are so far gone you don't even realize it yet," Puck smirked.

"What do you have to tell me that couldn't wait until later?" Sam asked, ignoring his last comment.

"I was going through and translating the journals I swiped from Lucy's place and apparently your human girl is immune to Lucy's witchcraft."

"Explain."

"Lucy was doing some serious raging in those journals, about how her spells aren't having the desired affect on her and how she needed a new girl and quick before her shit got rocked."

Sam threw him a look.

"Well she didn't say those exact words, but I'm guessing Lucy sent her lackey to kill the human girl and left town so nobody would suspect it was her. The sooner she died, the sooner Lucy could get a new roommate."

Sam felt the growl rumbling in his throat, minutes ago he was angry with his cousin and how his messiness was deeply affecting Mercedes, but now he was angry for missing out on Rick's slaughter. He knew Lucy was planning her next attack and who knows whom she would compel next to kill Mercedes. And it wasn't like it would be hard to accomplish; the girl practically threw herself in harm's way walking through the woods alone, messing with her camera or ipod while she walked to different stores. Sam had only been following her for a week and already knew that Mercedes was the perfect prey-always unaware of her surroundings especially when she had that camera with her.

"What are you thinking?"

Sam looked back at his cousin, "Keep your senses open and don't get too comfortable, I'll call you if I need anything."

"Got it. Oh, here you go."

Puck took off his sweats and threw them back at Sam. He jumped out the window and disappeared into the night. Sam looked out the window and looked at his own clothes, before stripping them all off and jumping out the window as well. He flew to window he'd frequented for a week and watched the girl inside.

* * *

Mercedes jerked awake as the vibrations buzzed on her leg. Her eyes were still halfway closed as she took off her earphones and grabbed the phone. Without looking at the caller ID, she answered with a groggy hello.

The person on the other line giggled and Mercedes' eyes opened at once.

"Quinn?"

"Hey Sleeping Beauty, did I wake you?"


End file.
